DESCRIPTION: The aim of this proposal is to further understanding of the nature of semantic processing in the left and right cerebral hemispheres, particularly as regards the interaction of semantic and attentional processing. The project will attempt to determine how semantic information is represented in the cerebral hemispheres, how the time courses of automatic and attentionally controlled activation might differ between the hemispheres, and how inhibition might differentially operate within and between the two hemispheres. Event-related potentials and reaction time will serve as dependent measures. The data obtained will be relevant to the study, diagnosis, and rehabilitation of individuals with language impairments due to insult to either cerebral hemisphere, as well as developmental disorders such as dyslexia in which the pattern of errors often resembles right hemisphere reading in neurological patients.